The Moody Blues had no choice but to take a huge gamble as the calendar turned to 1967. While the Birmingham, England-bred band had made an initial splash during the first wave of The British Invasion in late 1964 and on into early 1965 with “Go Now” — a peppy No. 10 U.S. pop-chart hit sung by guitarist/vocalist Denny Laine — they found themselves somewhat behind the curve when forward-thinking songwriting, adventurous composition, and outright psychedelia began dominating the rock milieu in the latter half of the decade. What was a poor working-class band to do?